ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF LAPLAND. 291 



They were not at all shy, but very restless, sweep- 

 ing in small flocks just oyer the surface of the 

 ground, uttering their feeble single call-note. 

 They never flew far and soon pitched again. That 

 they came in tolerable quantities may be gathered 

 from the fact that in about three weeks I obtained 

 more than fifty specimens, and, strange to say, 

 every one, except one single example, were males. 

 By all Swedish naturalists the shore lark is con- 

 sidered very rare in Sweden ; but I think it must 

 have been overlooked. I consider the Swedish 

 name "berglarka," or rock lark, much more appro- 

 priate than our British name of " shore lark. 53 

 The colours of this bird appear to be much brighter 

 and richer in the spring than at any other season. 

 There is little difference then between the male 

 and female ; but a female which I shot on July 2 

 had a very pale yellow forehead; horns scarcely 

 perceptible ; top of the head and forehead only 

 speckled with black, a little darkish on the fore- 

 head; throat very faint yellow; the black shield 

 on the breast small, and not nearly so dark as in 

 the male ; back all speckled with blackish-brown, 

 not pure light chestnut, as in the male. The 

 female which I shot on April 20 had the ovary 

 small, but very distinct. The colours were much 

 brighter than in the summer, and it much more 

 resembled the male, save that the yellow was not 



